Summer Tomato Soup

June 30, 2016

I’ve never been a fan of tomato soup. I don’t have any positive associations with the overly sweet, canned variety that was served with grilled cheese sandwiches at school cafeterias. It was unlikely, therefore, that I would ever order it for myself on a menu as an adult: too much of a risk of it tasting like the canned stuff. But recently, at my friend Eren’s house, I had a life changing tomato soup – it was so good that I asked for the recipe. She and her husband had used a blog recipe for inspiration, but they altered it so much that it didn’t bear much resemblance to the original recipe, which included chickpeas and some other ingredients they didn’t use. All credit goes to them for this wonderful soup, which I promptly went home and prepared in the exact same way, heirloom tomatoes and special culinary coconut milk and all. And with excellent results.

This tomato soup is the definition of minimalism, but it’s my belief you need good tomatoes for it. My friends used heirloom tomatoes from a small local market, and you could really tell. Bland supermarket varieties just won’t cut it here. The flavors of excellent summer tomatoes, fresh thyme, and coconut cream make this rich and wonderful, yet it still feels light for the season.